Current research interests
- Implementation of bioavailability of heavy metals in risk assessment procedures. The aim of this research is to develop methodologies for assessing soil-type and water-type specific heavy metal standards. Models are developed and validated that combine chemical insights in the area of metal speciation, with biological insights regarding uptake of metals as influenced by compartment-specific and organism-specific factors.
- Development and application of quantitative structureactivity relationships (QSARs) for the estimation of both physicalchemical properties and transformation rates of chemical substances in the environment, with the aim of using these QSARs in models for ecological risk assessment.
- Biotic and abiotic transformation processes of chemical substances in natural ecosystems: development of methods for extrapolating data obtained in laboratory settings to realistic field conditions.
- Fate and effects of organic and inorganic nanomaterials in the environment: fate studies as affected by interactions with biotic and abiotic matrices, and effect studies on aquatic and benthic organisms following assessment of the bioavailable form of the nanomaterials.

Additional:
- Editor Environmental Chemistry of ‘Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry’
- Editor-in-Chief ‘Journal of Soils and Sediments’
- Editor ‘Bulletin Chemical Society Ethiopia’
- Editor newly established open access journal ‘Environmental Sciences’
- Member Editorial Board “Environmental Pollution”
- Member Editorial Board “Environmental Sciences”
- Member Editorial Board “Journal of Safety and Environment”
- Secretary IUPAC Commission on Soil and Water Chemistry
- Secretary of the IUPAC Division on Chemistry and the Environment
- Member of the board of the Section on Environmental Chemistry of the Dutch Royal Chemical Society
- Member of the Peer Review Panel of the Voluntary EU Risk Assessment Reports (VRARs) copper and nickel.
- Member of the Review Panel of Canadian Research Programme “Metals In The Human Environment” (MITHE).
- Member of the Review Panel of the Research Programme on Water Management in Qatar.
- Project leader of various national and international projects in the fields of environmental risk assessment and implementation of the Water Framework Directive, amongst others to allow new EU member states to conform to the requirements of the acquis communautaire.
- Member of the Founding Steering Committee of the Nano Advisory group of SETAC (leader of Work Stream “Toxicokinetics/bioconcentration (ADME)”).

Management activities
- Project manager of various multi-disciplinary projects commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of spatial planning and the environment (VROM): 1990 – 2008. Average annual budget 5 kEuro, topics vary from chemical risk assessment till the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the projects involve various expertise centres within RIVM and outside RIVM.
- Project manager of EU-funded projects within EU-Research Frameworks V and VI: 1990 – 2008. Average annual budget: 15 kEuro. Currently involved in the EU-funded projects NORMAN, OSIRIS, NOMIRACLE, MODELKEY, ECO (Marie-Curie Programme, funded with 2 PhD students).
- Project coordinator of CADASTER, a so-called medium-sized project with 9 international partners and an overall budget of 4 mEuro. The CADASTER proposal was selected by the EU (DG Research) out of a pool of over 700 project proposals as the sole project of choice within the first call for proposals of the 7th EU Research Framework, to support the implementation of the new chemicals legislation in Europe - REACH.
- Project manager of various projects commissioned by international organizations like NATO, EEA and OECD, as well as projects commissioned by industry, and projects granted within the EU-MATRA and EU-TWINNING programmes (1995 - 2008). All projects are carried out within a multi-disciplinary setting project and have in common that they are granted following peer review and involve international competition. Budgets vary from 100 till 500 kEuro.

Academic activities
- Lecturer in various bachelor and master courses at Wageningen University (soil hygiene), UvA (Environmental Quality; QSARs in Environmental Sciences), University Utrecht, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Leiden (course Environmental Processes), University of Besançon, Dalian University of Technology (China – Environmental Processes), Saxion Hogeschool (Capita Selecta course and course on environmental risk assessment), Hogeschool Utrecht (Environmental Chemistry), IHE Delft (annual course on Environmental Hygiene).
- Teaching environmental chemistry, multimedia fate modeling, ecotoxicology, effect assessment in national and international (France, Canada, USA, Thailand) post-academic training courses, including Post-doctorate course Toxicology under the supervision of Dr. Hermens (University Utrecht), Dr. Van Gestel (VU, Amsterdam), and Dr. Murk (Wageningen University).
- Member of over 10 National and International Ph.D. committees (2000 – 2008) at universities in the Netherlands (Utrecht, Wageningen, VU, UvA), France (Besançon), Czech Republic (Brno), United States (Delaware) and Canada (University of Toronto).
- Supervisor of various bachelor and master students of national and international universities, universities of applied sciences (“hogescholen”), and the Open University: graduation assignments as well as assignments to improve general skills and/or laboratory skills. Currently: (co-)supervisor of 8 bachelor and master students from the Netherlands, USA, China, Spain.
- Invited lecturer at various international conferences, including the conferences series on QSARs (biennial conference), ICOBTE (International Conference On the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements; biennial conference), ISEST (International Symposium on Environmental Science and Technology) and SETAC (biannual conferences).
- Invited lecturer at national and international workshops.
- Session chairman/moderator at various national and international workshops and conferences.
- Co-organizer of two one-week conferences on Environmental Biodegradation Processes (Dubrovnik, Croatia) and Environmental Risk Assessment (Bangkok, Thailand).

Curriculum Vitae

Education
1971-1977 Secondary school: Jacob Roelands Lyceum, Boxtel
1977-1984 Eindhoven University of Technology. Graduation in February 1984; Department of Organic Chemistry. Topic of thesis: experimental and theoretical study on the occurrence of photochemically initiated sigmatropic rearrangements.
1984-1988 Eindhoven University of Technology, Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, 1988. Thesis Title: "An Experimental and Quantumchemical Study on the Mechanism and Stereochemistry of Photochemical [1,3] Sigmatropic Shifts". The Ph.D. study was directed on the various factors that control the mechanism and the stereochemistry of photochemical [1,3]-OH shifts in some newly developed model systems. Promotor: Prof. Dr. Henk Buck.

Positions
1988-1991 Junior Researcher, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM); Laboratory for Ecotoxicology, environmental Chemistry and Drinking Water, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
1991-1995 Senior Researcher, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM); Laboratory for Ecotoxicology, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
1995-2001 Senior Researcher/Project Manager, Laboratory for Ecotoxicology, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
2001 - Project Manager/Scientific co-ordinator Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.

Experience
1988-1992 Organic chemistry. Instrumental organic analyses, synthetic organic chemistry, photochemistry.
1992-1998 Environmental organic chemistry. Fate and behaviour of organic contaminants in water/soil/sediment.
1998- Metal bioavailability: modeling fate and effects of metals in water/ sediment/soil.
1995- Involved as expert in risk assessments and development of risk assessment methodologies within the framework of the EU-risk assessment of existing chemicals.
1990- Project manager: projects within EU-Research Frameworks V and VI, various multi-disciplinary projects commissioned by the Dutch Ministry for the Environment, projects commissioned by international organizations like NATO, EEA and OECD, projects commissioned by industry, and projects granted within the EU-MATRA and –TWINNING programmes.
2008- Coordinator of EU-Research Framework 7 project CADASTER (CAse studies on the Development and Application of in-Silico Techniques for Environmental hazard and Risk assessment), commissioned by Directorate I (Environment) of the Research Directorate of the European Commission.
1988- Teaching. Teaching environmental chemistry, multimedia fate modeling and effect assessment in national and international post-academic training courses.
2000- Member of over 10 National and International Ph.D. committees.